Harry L. "Bud" Odgers, WA6OVE

NA6D, Ralph W. Matthews 

NA6 - DELTA

Roseville and Lincoln

2021 Annual Picnic a Great Success

                                                                      San Joaquin Net History

                                                    The San Joaquin net was formed April 28, 1959, by  

                                                             K6EJT Bill with a group of amateur radio operators                                                              that included:
                                                        Al K6RPL, Roger K6HEZ, Alex W6BWM, Fred WA6AFW,                                                         Joe W6YQK, Jim K6ZFM, Floyd W6MJS, Verne K6EBO,                                                             John W6QRB, Sam K6OBG, Charlie K6SWW and Mike                                                           WA6OLG.
They met on 3.915 Kc every night but Sundays and holidays.
Members gave a weather report from their area.
The net increased in members, and changed the name to The San
Joaquin Net.  The net has grown to a membership of over seventy
members with Q T H's throughout California.

                                                                                  The history of the San Joaquin Net was
                                            Compiled by Edith L. "Salley"  Nikkel  WB6FOA  of Pleasant Hill and copied
                                                                          by Harry L.  "Bud" Odgers WA6OVE of El Portal
                                                                                                         April, 1991

Steve, formerly WA6MIZ and NOW WA7MIZ, packed up and moved from "6 Land" to Idaho to build a new place and retire quietly. The move brought on many changes for Steve besides a new call. . He built a beautiful place, ran portable from his vehicle for a while and eventually put up a new antenna which allows him to check in once in awhile. Future plans to build a loop antenna may improve that situation.

 
Other than signal strength,  Steve reports all is well in Idaho. He remains a board member of the local HOA, overseeing residential building projects, and coordinating subdivision road maintenance.  He questions those who said retirement would be easy and relaxing  and believes that those individuals should be politely tortured by all retirees!

But then Steve shares in his own words what happened next! 

"A bright light in darkness of recent times is my discovery of a very exceptional lady who found my heart and I'm giving it to her as we plan to marry this coming November on a free beach somewhere out there in the world. This was totally contrary to my plan of moving to Idaho, building a home, getting a dog, and living happily ever after. I guess you never know what amazing things will happen when you aren't looking."

Congratulations Steve from your friends at the SJHF Net!

 

Jack, KK6LK Back on the Air!

San Joaquin Net meets Monday-Saturday on 3918 khz, at 6 PM Pacific Time

​Celebrating 62 years of service!

   Roger Corum, WD6CNV

                SK 2/3/19

Remembering Our Silent Keys 

Thank you to Larry, AD6W, for arranging a place for our SJHF Picnic in Kingsburg this year. A special thanks to the Kingsburg group for purchasing  all of the hamburgers and  trimmings and grilling them; Jim, AA6F for donating the hot dogs, chips, condiments, etc.; Myron, WA6BLB and Debbie, N6IBH for donating all the drinks; and so many people for adding sides and desserts. We had over 40 in attendance this year which made it one of the best-attended picnics in years.

Here are a few pictures from the May 1st picnic for now from the Sheklians and Whipkeys. 

                        New Addition to Archives Page

Find out which of our current members were members of this net in 1992. Click on the archives tab to see the list.

Edith L. "Salley" Nikkel, WB6FOA

    Roland H. Ron

  Dinsmoor,N6JQL

           SK 3/5/20

Many of you were aware that Jack Green, KK6LK sustained a bad fall that broke many bones and was in the hospital for several weeks.

Jack was actually a student of Larry Esau (AD6W) who taught ham radio licensing classes after hours at Sperry Company where they both worked in the 1970s. Larry encouraged Jack to join the San Joaquin Net as a new ham, which he has done for nearly 45 years. Jack and his wife Flora have participated in many SJHF Net camping trips and picnics. Jack also attended Kingsburg Radio Club breakfast meetings for many years.

Jack and his wife Flora are now living in an assisted living facility in Hanford CA. Physically, Jack broke his left arm in three places, and banged himself up on his other arm and both legs. Besides not having use of his left arm, he has trouble walking and the staff is assisting him well.

 The assisted living facility is one sponsored by Jack’s church denomination, and Jack served on the board of directors of the assisted living facility in past years. For this reason, the staff is most considerate of Jack’s needs and was agreeable to Jack having his radio in the living space and an outdoor antenna connected to it.

Being a true life-long Elmer, Larry, Mel Manley (KI6SK) and Fred Johnson (K6ELK) just recently facilitated the installation and tuning of antennas and the set up of Jack’s favorite rig and microphone. Jack was able to check in for the first time in weeks on Saturday, July 24, 2021, much to the delight of the SJHF net members.

If you would like to drop Jack a card or note, he and Flora can be reached at:

Jack and Flora Green
511 E. Malone
Hanford CA 93230

(Thank you to Larry and Fred for sharing the information and photos contained in this article)    

George Stevans, K6SNA

           SK 8/6/19

                 ​​​

Joe Mizutani, WB6KCE

      SK 2/8/19

No Picture Available

Move to Idaho Proves  Even Better For Steve,  WA7MIZ

NA6D - Ralph W. Matthews - SK​​​

Alan J. Vicenti, N6QOG

           SK 4/16/20

Net Manager:                       Bill Mercer WB6FEH

Net Manager Emeritus:     Jim Wintemute AA6F

Net Secretary:                      Ken Martzen W6WMD

Assistant Net Secretary:   Jeff Lillard  AD6RH

​Web Master:                         Myron Sheklian WA6BLB

Bob Perry, K6GDI

        SK 2/14/19

      It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of

NA6-Delta, Ralph Matthews. Many of you were aware that Ralph was battling the effects of chemotherapy and was off the air in recent months.  

     Ralph was first licensed in 1960 at the age of thirteen as WV6PAO and upgraded to General class in 1961 (WA6PAO). In 1979 he upgraded to Extra with his  present call. Ralph was a member and Net Control for the San Joaquin HF Net and was a Life member of Western Public Service System (3952khz.net) serving as a director and frequent master of ceremonies at their functions.                                 
     His station featured a Ten Tec Omni 7, Palstar AT2K Tuner and an Ameritron AL 80B amp.  He described his antenna as a "cloud burner" inverted vee up at all of 20 feet, but regardless, he always sounded good. He was well-known for having a radio voice using his Heil PR 40 microphone. Ralph mainly worked 80, 40,  and 20 meters.

​    Ralph will be missed by so many. When we receive additional information we will post it here.